Public Relations in the Digital Age is an ever-shifting amalgam of tried and true communications practices and new and different methods through which you may connect with your target audience.

To maintain success, you must expand your understanding of current tools and applications, as well as which platforms and influencers are drawing your audience. And a cursory understanding of these factors is not enough. To truly make the most of your PR opportunities in the Digital Age, you need to understand both the value and the purpose of several evolving realities.

These days, it seems like social media is standing in as an assignment editor for many different media outlets. Tune in to just about any cable show and, sooner than later, you will hear or see Twitter or Facebook or Instagram mentioned. But, does that mean the rules for contacting media sources on social media have shifted? Have we entered an era in which connecting with a journalist on social media is acceptable as a best practice?

The answer to that question is “yes and no.” While, yes, it can be acceptable to communicate with a journalist on social media, there are a few guidelines that you may want to consider if you want to be more effective in your efforts.

Most startups have a challenge to face when they’re dealing with public relations. Young companies know that they need to create buzz for their organizations – but it’s hard to do that when they don’t have the right connections and budgets in place.

Developing a successful PR strategy for a startup is a critical component of ensuring your business has the right foundations for success. However, most companies simply don’t know where to get started. Here are a few tips that can help startups to set up a more effective PR campaign.

For many companies, social media marketing initially seems to belong exclusively to the business-to-consumer marketplace. However, research into B2B advertising suggests that companies can actually benefit more from social media advertising than they think – particularly if they choose the right platform.

Around 84% of business decision makers say that they’re influenced by social media when making purchasing decisions. For executives, social media is a crucial resource because it helps them to make choices based on things like social proof and local endorsements. Although various social channels can contribute to a company’s B2B social media marketing strategy, there are few channels that appeal more to professionals online than LinkedIn.

Running a business comes with a lot of uncertainty. While some things are more definite than others, there are a lot of aspects of a business that can’t be measured or evaluated accurately. Marketing lies in the ‘less definite’ category – while there is a lot you can do and measure to build a better campaign – there’s no hard and fast answer on what will be the end result.

That said, marketing has developed exponentially over the years, and we know have the ability to measure the effectiveness of campaigns quite seamlessly. However, companies still tend to adopt a traditional mindset when it comes to marketing that is costing them a lot of money.  Here are some of the common marketing mistakes that is costing your company:

The Holiday Season, it’s the “most wonderful time of the year” and a tremendous opportunity to amplify your public relations connections and opportunities. Here are a few timely reminders to help you make the most out of this holiday season.

For many reasons this time of year, people are tempted to back off their proactive PR communication. Too many people set their content on autopilot and just hope for the best. This is exactly the wrong approach. This time of year, emotions are high and people are looking for reasons to smile. You and your brand have the opportunity to be one of those reasons. Take advantage of opportunities to connect, internally and externally, to build brand loyalty.

Call To Action, or CTA, is a key part of your marketing strategy – it’s the part where you tell your target audience what action they should take after arriving at your landing page or reading through your blog post. The most basic CTAs would involve encouraging the customer to buy your product or service. Other types of CTA involve asking your reader to share your content, make a donation, subscribe to your emails, and so forth.

Creating content without an effective CTA is a lost opportunity to encourage your audience to be a supporter, follower or buyer of your brand. A CTA is what turns marketing into active engagement and hopefully, profits. Here are some tips to create a call to action to get the best results:

Social Media has become a staple for PR professionals. Through social media, PR teams can engage with audiences and respond to crisis in real time, drive consumer spending, and build a loyal follower base.

While social media has changed the landscape of PR with its impressive capabilities, the question now arises – how do we measure your digital efforts to understand ROI? This is important to understand if the efforts you’re putting into social media is influencing the community, as well to demonstrate this information to the C-suite.